The Irish standard., 1887-01-01
CAPTURED PROPERTY.

CAPTURED PROPERTY.
An Interesting Bureau Connected wits
the Treasury Department.
There is q very interesting bureau
in the treasury Department about
which the public knows but little.
Over little green baize door in the
third story is printed in gilt letters
captured. There is something sug-
gestive of piracy in this and beneath it
is a warning not to enter. I pushed
the door open the other day. There
was nothing worse within than three
or four desks, and as many more mild
hammered clerks. This is the bureau
of captured and abandoned property. !"
When the Government appropriates
other peoples property here is where it
goes.
:'Where's the plunder?" I asked Of
a very knowing looking man who oc-
cupied big desk in the middle of the
room.
''Well there isn't very much these
times" he replied. "Only stray gun
or an anchor or two fshed up out of
New York harbor. Folks don't aban-
don property much nowadays" and
he looked about him with the air of
one who feels his occupation gone.
''But 1 have seen the day." he added,
''when abandoned property meant
somethisg. What do you say to pick
ing up whole plantation? Wc'v"
done it and had two or three at a time
worked on shares. Sometimes we'vc
got mule or two, or a few hundred
bales of cotton. That was in '63 and "a
or thereabouts. When the Southern peo-
pie fled before the advance of the Union
army this bureau was formed to take
charge of the valuable property they
left behind. OF course, they left their
plantations, and sometimes there was
much valuable jewelry and plate, be-
sides large stores OF grain, tobacco and
cotton. We got the stores, but, un-
fortunately, very little of the jewelry.
.'There is doubtless an impression in
the South that there are many valu-
ables in the treasury taken from
Southern homes. This is a mistake.
What we got was cotton, grain and
tobacco, of these products we got and
sold about $26,0o0ooo worth. We
made a rich harvest in Louisiana,
Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina.
The people fled before the army, leav-
ing every thing. We came on behind
and picked up what they had left.
Sometimes when they did not abandon
their property we confiscated it; that is,
all that might give aid or comfort to
the enemy. But we got only the
heavy things. All that could be easily
carried off was gone before we could
get it. Our object was to save all per-
sonal property and valuables. and they
would have been restored to their own
ers in time; but the plunderers gener-
ally put their hands in first, and it was
impossible to keep up with them. There
was an organized search among the
troops for captured property. but there
was seldom any found. The plunder-
ers always managed to hide all they
got, and it was only when it fell under
the eye of some superior officer that
any thing valuable was saved.
In South Carolina the wealthy peo-
pie had placed their jewelry and plate
in bank. In one of the banks there
were several large boxes the bank off,
GERS were trying to get to place of
safety, when they were discovered by
the soldiers, and all the valuables
captured. But out of it all the Govern
ment officials got no more than one
box, which was of no great value. All
the rest was spirited away by the capt.
ors, and the owners probably think the
Government has it. This was the only
occasion upon which-the Government
ever got any jewelry or plate, and the
value of all we now have in the vaults
of the treasury should estimate to be
about $2,5OO. This is all we can ac-
count for of all the valuables the South
ern people lost. We were supposed to
take charge of all the personal prop
erty picked up off the battlefield. l
venture to say we never found a dol
lars worth. People in the South think
that our vaults are rich with treasures
They are mistaken.
t.In the box we have" continued the
abandoned property-man, ''there is
very little silverware. It is mostly
iewelry, all old-fashioned. Old style
watches, rich cameo sets. odd old rings
with peculiar settings, evidently family
relics; miniatures setln gold and gems,
diamond rings and all sorts of odd and
peculiar trinkets. The greatest value
of most Of them lies probably IN their
associations. Some of them have prob
ably been in families for generations.
The owners of quite number have
asserted their claims and got their
nro,,ortv hr1t what we have now will